9 most cruel experiments in the history of psychology

Psychology is a science that studies the behavior of a person or an animal in a given situation. Research in this area helps modern society move in front, look for answers to the most burning issues, cope with various diseases of the psyche . Very many of the achievements were the result of the nine most violent experiments in the history of psychology, although some of them did not at all cost the suffering of living beings.

9 most cruel experiments in psychology

  1. An experiment that sought to prove that the sex of the child at birth does not matter and if desired, can be raised from the baby as a girl, and a boy. Subject was Bruce Reimer, who was circumcised at the age of eight months, but the penis was removed by medical error. The well-known psychologist John Mani led the child to adolescence, fixing observations in the journal. He was given several operations, given hormones, but in the end the experiment failed, and all members of the family were affected: his father became an alcoholic, his mother and brother were in great depression, and Reimer himself at the age of 38 committed suicide.
  2. The 9 most cruel experiments included a study of the social isolation of individuals. The experimenter Harry Harlow selected the cubs from mothers of monkeys and isolated for a year. Diagnosed mental abnormalities in infants have led to the conclusion that even a happy childhood is not a defense against depression .
  3. An experiment that led to the conclusion that a person easily submits to authority and does not hesitate to perform the most unthinkable instructions. It was conducted by Stanley Milgram, who gave the experimental instructions to beat the discharge of the current of another participant in the experiment. Subjects continued to do this knowing that the discharge reached 450 volts. And this is another of the 9 cruel experiments in psychology.
  4. An experiment whose goal was to identify chronic stress and helplessness observed in individuals after a series of failures. The experiments were conducted on dogs by psychologists Steve Mayer and Mark Seligman, who subjected animals to repeated discharges of current. In the end, even moved to an open-air cage, the dogs did not try to escape and stop the torture. They got used to the inevitable.
  5. Experiment to study the nature of fears and phobias. Was conducted by John Watson over a 9-month-old orphan boy, who developed fear of a white rat and other objects involved in the experiment. At each attempt of the child to play with the animal, behind his back they beat an iron hammer on a metal plate.
  6. In 9 cruel experiments, the one who studied the human faculty was also involved. Experiences were conducted by Karin Landis, who photographed them at the time of the expression of the most diverse emotions. In this case, no regularity in the expression was found, and the living rats, to whom the subjects cut off their heads, experienced terrible torments.
  7. An experiment on the study of the effect of drugs on the body was carried out on animals that had done themselves a lot of damage and eventually died.
  8. Experiment to study the behavior and social norms of individuals who are atypical conditions for them. Was conducted by Philip Zimbardo over the pupils in the imitation of the prison and is known as the Stanford prison experiment. Within his framework, the volunteers were divided into guards and prisoners, who eventually became so accustomed to their roles that dangerous situations began to arise. Interrupted long before the supposed end for ethical reasons.
  9. Experiment to clean up the ranks of servicemen from people of non-traditional sexual orientation. Held at the end of the 20th century in the army of South Africa. As a result, about 1,000 military personnel, identified by army psychiatrists, were sent to shock therapy, were forced to take hormones, and some even were forced to change their sex.